Hush: A Gaasaku Story
by Catflix
Summary: Gaasaku One-shot. AU where it's Gaara who comes to the rescue instead of Lee in the Forest of Death. Idea belongs to delicateblood on dA, check her out!
1. Unexpected Appearance

Hi! This is just an author's note! This is not my first story, I did write before, but this is the first story I ever published. I'd like to get some advice from other writers!

Disclaimer: Sakura, Gaara, Temari, Kankurou, and these poor Sound nin belong to Masashi Kishimoto's _Naruto_

The original idea belongs to delicateblood, check her out on dA (she did the picture, so I guess the idea's her)

###

The fight was heating up. The three ninjas from the Village Hidden in Sound were taking over slowly, step by step. Seemed like they just wanted to do it slowly and painfully. The odds were against Sakura. Bleeding badly, she took another step backwards to Sasuke and Naruto, standing in a defense stance. No, she won't give up! If anything, she would protect her unconscious teammates until her last breath. It was time to prove that she wasn't useless after all. With all the last strength she had, Sakura lunged forward, blocking the enemy kunoichi's path.

###

Gaara sprung onto the next tree, moving as swiftly as ever. He was getting ahead of his siblings. His brother and sister were clever enough to leave him alone for now. The tension was still in the air and all three of them could feel it, even though the place of murder was long left behind. Neither of them talked about it, though Kankuro and Temari did exchange weird looks with each other. The young Sabaku sighed, mentally, of course. Didn't they understand that he was in charge of the mission? He may be the youngest, but they should at least treat him with respect. He paused. Maybe he should 'remind' them what he was capable of. Or not. Maybe not for now, at least.

Gaara stopped. He could smell the scent of blood in the air and faint sound of ongoing battle had reached his ears. Turning his head back the way he had come from, he briefly debated on what to do next. Kankuro and Temari were at least a mile behind — he was traveling quickly while they had a more cautious step. Should he wait for them? No. They won't be able to come in time and Gaara wasn't feeling like talking to them right now. Besides, he was in the murderous mood and a fight was just what he needed. He quickly changed course and started moving towards the battle.

He definitely wasn't expecting whatever was coming at him.

###

Sakura was wearing up now. Her chakra level was low, and the odds were REALLY against her. Right now the girl was on all fours, trying to get up. Maybe she should give up. The pain was bad and she wondered if she could even take it. But then, her Inner started scolding her with words that would be to rude to be put here and pinkette felt very ashamed. Though it changed to surprise when she suddenly saw a redheaded boy from the Sand Village.

The next moment he disappeared. Trying to get herself together, she realized that he simply was moving too fast for her eyes, and lying on the ground some more, she realized that nobody was attacking her. That was weird. Then, suddenly, the shock from previous hit was gone, and she was able to focus properly.

The boy was protectively standing in front of her. Sakura wondered how she didn't notice him before. His sand was doing crazy things to the Sound shinobi, as they were beaten, teared up, and bleeding. Trying to stand up, Sakura suddenly saw some of the sand fly over to her, and braced herself for a hit. It never came. Instead, the material became as soft as a pillow, and even helped her sit up, pushing her back forward and staying there. Young kunoichi felt genuinely surprised.

###

The first thing that came to Gaara's mind when he finally arrived at the battlefield was that there were only three shinobi to fight. Then he noticed a girl with the most unusual hair color in front of a tree tunnel. Looking inside, he noticed that blond kid with whiskers (what was his name again? Maruto?) and Sasuke. Smirking, he decided that the black haired ninja wasn't as good as he thought. But then, this small girl was stronger than the both of them, or… maybe they survived an attack from something bigger while she was hiding?

Pushing the thought in the back of his head, he focused once again on the girl. Previously she had her head down, now she turned his head in his direction. Gaara froze, unable to move. Her pink hair arced through the air, like blood in water, as her bright green eyes glanced at him.

"Pretty."

It took him a moment to register that the word was been punched out of him. Quickly regaining control of himself, he jumped in front of her, facing the other three attackers. They had a weird look of surprise on their faces. He let all of his previous fury and annoyance at them, slashing and tearing.

The mysterious kunoichi behind him tried to stand up, and Gaara's sand instinctively reached to help her. She covered from it, scared. Then she looked at the other shinobi with a mixture of fear and shock on her face. Gaara felt his sand obeying toward the pinkette. Somehow, she convinced him to release them without even saying a word.

With that, he relaxed the sand grip around the attackers and not-so-gently threw them at the ground. They'll have a few broken bones, but will live. The ninja looked at him fearfully, probably thinking this was another trap. Nothing came. The leader, still cautious, lowered his stroll on the ground and took off with his injured teammates trailing after him as the sand picked it up and placed it in Gaara's hand.

###

Sakura was paralyzed. No creature had ever be deserved to be killed like that. When she felt pity towards them, they were instantly released. After the Sound ninjas were completely out of sight, the redhead turned to her. Her Inner made a remark that he was still handsome even though he had dark circles around his eyes and in overall looked creepy.

Sakura was very nervous, even though her face was trying its best not to show it. Little did she know, that right now, the Sand ninja felt the same thing. She decided to break the awkward silence.

"Th-thanks…for saving m-me," She stuttered out, standing up. "I-I'm Sakura. Sakura Haruno."

"Hn." Was all he answered. Sakura frowned. Why did everyone suddenly started acting like Sasuke?

Suddenly he took a step towards her and Sakura instinctively took a step backwards. He was now walking towards her and she from him. The situation might have been funny, if only Sakura wasn't so scared.

Her back slammed into a tree. The pinkette realized that she had missed the entrance to the tree and now had nowhere to go. He had cornered her. She slowly slid down, until she was seated on the ground and braced herself.

"Gaara." She was definitely not expecting this. The stranger was now squatting in front of her, their faces only a few inches away. She could definitely feel the heat rushing to her cheeks.

"Huh?" She asked, confused.

"Sabaku no Gaara," He simply replied, and Sakura registered that he was telling her his name. Her eyes widened in surprise as he continued. "Here. Take this." He was holding a scroll, right in front of her face. It was the stroll of sky, just like the one they lost to Orochimaru. Sakura could also see that he was blushing lightly, now. Her previous fright had instantly disappeared. Her Inner was now screaming in her head, babbling away about how cute he was. Sakura was doing her best to ignore it.

"Hey, and I thought you weren't talking at all!" She teased nervously. Gaara's face decided to switch from "light embarrassment" to "tomato red hell". It quite matched his hair.

"Just take it!" The redhead huffed loudly, clearly annoyed that she was making fun of him. Then, suddenly, he turned his head back, eyes narrowing. Sakura could hear faint calls of some people, most likely his teammates. He shoved the scroll into her hands and was about to stand up, when stopped. Quickly sitting down again, he looked her straight in the eye and said, "Don't tell anyone about this. You never met me. Tell your teammates that you got the scroll by yourself or lie. Just don't mention me."

"Don't worry, I won't." Sakura promised, her cheeks still light pink. She then hesitated, and muttered "Thanks again," Gaara only nodded

Sounds of groans from the tree alerted her. Seemed like her team was finally waking up. They stood up at the same time. She wanted to thank him properly but there wasn't time. And she probably won't see him in the village again so there goes her idea of inviting on a lunch or something. "I need to go…" Sakura managed to mumble.

"Me too," Gaara said quietly. Then he froze in shock. He felt lips brush his face as Sakura gave him a peck on cheek. It was light and quick, but that was enough to turn him completely red, ears, neck, and whole face. He might have stood there for a whole day, trying to remember his name. Throwing last glance towards the retreating back of the pinkette as she hurried to help her teammates, the Sand genin was snapped back to reality as the voice of his siblings came closer.

"Gaara! We know you're somewhere here! COME OUT! We still have enough space to cover and Temari's getting impatient! GAARA!"

The said boy quickly jumped in the direction of the voices, memories of the kiss still playing in his mind over and over again. Poor boy couldn't get it out of his mind as he jumped from branch to branch.

Big mistake.

"Gaara…?" Kankuro's face suddenly appeared in front of him, peeking out of the leaves. Great. He had his mind wrapped around the kiss and now they had found him. Now the only thing left to do was to hope they won't notice anything.

Temari's face peeked out, right beside Kankuro's, "There you ar—…Gaara? Are you blushing…?"

Sigh.


	2. Mystery Book

Hi! This is was supposed to be a one-shot, but whatever. More notes at the end of the story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

###

It was a sunny day at Konoha. Civilians bustled through the streets, completely oblivious to the shinobi, scampering on rooftops to get on their missions. So that meant that not many people noticed a redheaded genin lurking in shadows.

Gaara was taking a walk to the library. When he told his siblings about that, Kankurou nearly dropped the steaming pot on the ground. Based on his appearance, not many people could think that the middle sibling had taken a hobby in cooking. The first time Gaara saw his brother in pink apron with a cooking pan in one hand and a spatula in other — _No_ , thought Gaara as he pushed the image at the back of his head, _I'm not going to think about that_. So it was completely safe to say that Gaara was freaked out even if he didn't show it on the outside.

Anyways, Kankurou was been very shocked. Gaara rarely went to libraries. And rarely told his sister and brother where he was going, why, and when. So it was natural for the puppet-user to think that the world was ending.

At first Kankurou thought that this was an impostor. But then he noticed the way the sand twitched in Gaara's hand, irritated that the older sibling was gaping at him for a long time now, Kankurou instantly knew that wasn't the case.

So he went with the safest routine — just nodded and grunted. Gaara turned around and was out of sight.

Now he was stomping towards a large building, having finally found it. Strolling inside, the redhead instantly found his way into the dictionary unit, snatched up the first book that came to his eyes and sat on a chair.

Book in his hands, he quickly went over some words that popped in his mind at the memory of the kiss.

 _Peck_ **** _pɛk_ ****

 _noun_

 _1\. a stroke or bite by a bird with its beak._

 _2._ _a light or perfunctory kiss._

 _3\. [mass noun] archaic, informal food._

 _Platonic_ **** _pləˈtɒnɪk_ ****

 _adjective_

 _(of love or friendship) intimate and affectionate but not sexual._

He sighed. In every dictionary he searched, the answers have been the same. Then a familiar pang in his head started. Carefully, he searched for the word of which he could never understand, word that brought him so much pain.

 _Love_ **** _lʌv_ ****

 _noun [ mass noun ]_

 _1\. a strong feeling of affection._

 _2\. a strong feeling of affection and sexual attraction for someone._

Was it really that hard to write an understandable explanation? Now he might never know if butterflies in his stomach whenever he thought of the pinkette were proof of deep love or a platonic crush.

But then, he saw a dusty book on the edge of the bookshelf. Taking it out, he looked for the publishing date, finding out it was printed long before he was even born. Blowing on the cover to get the dust out, he read the title.

It was called _What is this Feeling?_ and had no author name on it. _Cheesy name,_ thought Gaara, _but it will do._

Cautiously flipping on the first page, he started reading.

###

That night Gaara came home late. Really late. But Kankurou wasn't surprised. That happened a lot back in Suna, since the red-haired jinjuriki felt the need to 'feel alive' every now and then.

But when Kankurou asked his brother who did he kill today — so he could erase the marks that would lead the murder to them — Gaara shrugged and said that he didn't. The puppet-user had no idea how much times Gaara would be surprising him this day. His younger brother was unfocused and dazed since they lost him at the Forest of Death and Kankurou suspected that something happened there.

Feeling a bit braver, the older sibling decided to know more. If anything happened, he would be able to escape anyways.

"Ahem… Gaara… Er, then why did you come so late in the night? Did you actually go to the library?"

Gaara looked at him like he was stupid. "Of course I did. That's why I told you."

Kankurou was suddenly uncomfortable. "Um, I… I thought that was just a cover story." Quickly deciding to change the topic, he asked "So why are you home in this hour?"

Gaara suddenly fumbled angrily with — what was that behind his back? Kankurou was about to flee, but the redhead spoke about something completely different.

"I know! I would have stayed longer but this Konoha library doesn't work at night! But," he took out the object behind his back and patted it fondly. "At least they allowed me to take out the book."

Kankurou inspected the book, already tired of being shocked every few hours. Squinting, he managed to read _What is this Feeling?_ on the cover of an old, withered book. Then it all sank in as he felt his legs get wobbly and promptly crashed on the ground.

The sound alerted their sister and Temari went crashing through the door, armed to the teeth. Looking around wildly, she yelled "Who's attacking? COME ON OUT!" Then she noticed Kankurou on the ground and Gaara near him, holding what seemed a very ancient book.

"Gaara! Did you kill Kankurou? Oh no, you know we can't do that! Come on, he is your brother!"

But she was broken off by a groan that came from the puppet-user's mouth.

"Oh, shut up already, woman!" He sat up. "Can't you see I already have enough drama without you yelling my ears off!"

"But, what — what's happening?"

Kankurou just grudgingly pointed at Gaara's book. Temari wondered why did her angsty little brother suddenly decided to read, then squinted to read the title.

Gaara, already tired of the scene his siblings were making, hugged it to his chest and promptly informed them it's nothing, then fled to his room. Kankurou would tell her everything anyway.

Closing the door behind him, he turned a page and resumed his reading.

###

Kankurou stared at the door that Gaara closed just a few moments ago, then motioned Temari into the kitchen. After six cups of tea, a bit of medicine for shock, and a whole bowl of cookies, he was finally finished telling her the story of the whole day.

Temari's brows were furrowed as she sat in silence for what seemed like hours. Then she shrieked so suddenly, Kankurou's ears managed to pop.

"What the hell is this about! Are you trying to make me deaf?"

But Temari wasn't listening. She danced around the room, giggling excitedly. Kankurou massaged his temples tiredly. Either the whole world gone mad or it was just him.

He was snapped out of his thought as his sister seized him by shoulders and said — more quickly this time, thankfully — "I think Gaara had chosen a _girl_!"

Her brother chocked on his eighteenth cookie. "What?!" he asked, shocked. But then pieces had started falling together in his head.

"That's so cute! I though he would always be so cold and brooding, but it seems like somebody had finally melted his heart!" She stopped, her face getting serious once more. "I wonder who is it? And when did he have time to fall in love? I thought he never said or did anything to other people except for us…"

"Nah, he did talk with that Sasuke guy before chunin exams, remember? But there was a tim—"

"Wait, are you saying that Gaara's ga—"

"No!" Kankurou looked at Temari disbelievingly. "Of course not! I'm saying that there was a time in the Forest of Death when we lost him, remember? Maybe there?"

Temari regained her serious face as she considered this. "Hmm, it might be true — wait, _the_ Forest of Death? The one in which part two of the chunin exams were held?"

"Um, yeah? You were there yourself, remember?"

"It's not that! It means Gaara has a crush on somebody who's one of his rivals — the competitors for passing! What if she's from _another village_?!"

"Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Gaara, what have you gotten yourself into?"

###

The next day passed uneventfully. Temari went out for a walk and Kankurou was in the kitchen, making cookies. Gaara remained shut in his room.

 _When a warm feeling erupts, it is for the better not to ignore it. This love is different from the other kinds we talked in previous chapters. It is not brotherly/sisterly, nor it is the love for a native village. It is a kind of love in which the person wants to_ be _with his or her loved person. An example would be a married couple or a secret mutual crush. This kind of love includes having sexual desire for the person, doing things such as kissing, holding hands, or declaiming eternal love._

Gaara grimaced, trying to ignore the last few words. He continued to read.

 _This kind of love could also include jealousy. That happens when another person is trying (accidentally or on purpose) to get the crush's attention. Jealousy could be strong, not allowing for the lover to feel safe with his/her lover around people. Or it could be feeble — either because the person is sure that the crush will not be attracted to anybody, but the lover or since the person does not care enough. We can learn to control our jealousy by —_

"Gaara! Come on out! You have been holed in there for the whole night! It's noon already, and I need someone to try and rate my cookies!"

 _He is getting braver around me,_ Gaara thought wryly. _But I don't feel like scaring him away._

He silently closed the book and walked into the kitchen.

###

The cookies were amazing. Kankurou was definitely getting better.

Now having a comfortable feeling in his stomach — Gaara didn't even realize he was hungry until his brother shoved a dish in front of him — the redhead decided to have a walk. He left the book behind, better not to be seen with it.

After walking for half an hour, Gaara's thoughts suddenly turned to a certain pinkette. He wondered how was she doing. It had been exactly 3 days since the start of the second faze of the chunin exams. Was she okay? Gaara hoped she was. He kinda wanted for her to pass.

The redhead quickly shook his head. No. She was an enemy who might stand in his way. Even worse, she was from another village. Besides, he wasn't actually falling in love with her. For the past 24 hours he had been obsessed with the book just for his own curiosity. Nothing else. Nope. He definitely didn't hope for her falling in love with him. And even if he did had a slightest idea on that — these were just hormones. He _was_ nearing the teen stage, after all.

Even so, he still took another hour of convincing himself that he was _not_ in love. Ten minutes after that, he created a sand eye and sent in into the Forbidden Forest and find Team 7.

 _I'm doing this just because I want to see if Sasuke is a worthy opponent._

###

Yay! I finished the second chapter! That actually took a month to be made, but meh. Hey, it was originally a one-shot, so I didn't exactly have an outline. I do now, though I'm still not sure how much it would take me. Just so you know I did not include Sakura for a reason. Anyway, the next chapter would probably be all about her, so no worries!

Oh, and by the way, this isn't going to be Mature story. Just nope. First, I'm not good at writing something like that, and second, there are kids here that lie about their age. There should be more fics without, ahem, mature parts. Not saying that there should be completely no rated M stories. +

Still thinking about the love triangle... Hmm...

Review Replies:

manthabanana: Aww, thank you! It nice to know that people like this! You cheered me on, and here you go - another chappie!

Grey-Gaara: But of course. Thanks for the review, I really care :D. Here, have another chapter and try to ignore that it took a month for me to upload.


	3. A Knowing Brother

It was the third day of the chunin exams. Team 7 was resting in a sheltered spot near a river. Delicious smell was coming from new-caught fish, now roasting near fire. Three students were sitting right next to it, waiting in silence. Nobody noticed a weird sphere made out of sand thirty feet above their heads.

Naruto's eyes were glued to the frying fish. Sakura could almost hear his thoughts: 'Must grab the biggest one! Tasty! Not as good as ramen but good!"

Inner raged. ' _That bastard! You are such a pig, Naruto, I —_ ' Sakura cut off her before any swear words came through. Searching for something to switch her attention to, her eyes fell on their other companion. _Sasuke_.

The male's onyx eyes were distant and even unfocused. _I hope he's okay. After that encounter with Orochimaru, he have been acting strange,_ Sakura worried. Naruto didn't even notice anything new in the Uchiha's attitude. Though, on the other hand, you couldn't really see the change. Nobody could ever tell if Sasuke was happily smiling or having a blank face. Sakura suspected it was because his jaw muscles hurt when he grinned. Not like she ever seen him doing it.

Her own mind strayed to her own encounter with Sabaku no Gaara few days ago. _Huh. Gaara of the Desert. Strange name_. The pinkette assumed it was an ordinary title in Suna. Which actually made no sense whatsoever.

And the scroll… When her boys asked her about the stroll that the Suna genin gave her, she lied that she found it on the ground, near their camp. Naruto easily took the bait, congratulating her and saying that she was amazing, defending camp like that. But Sasuke remained doubtful. He told them that nobody here is that careless to leave something important like that, and pointed out that the pinkette must have at least fought somebody. Maybe there was something else. Or somebody else.

Lingering suspicion in his eyes as he put two and two together told Sakura that he didn't trust her. But she couldn't tell him. Gaara asked and that was the least she could do to repay him. Luckily, Naruto interrupted the black-haired by accusing him of not believing in Sakura. The blond launched himself at his rival and another scuffle broke out. That was the first time Sakura have been grateful for their fights. Still, she couldn't shake off the feeling that Sasuke wasn't going to let this go.

Delicious smell filled the air and jolted a very hungry pinkette back to present. Naruto already grabbed a piece and was pigging on it. Sasuke looked as cool and controlled as ever.

"I'm going to get more water." Sasuke said. Sakura watched him stand up and trudge into the forest.

She couldn't really understand what to do now. Bracing herself for an awkward silence with Naruto, she tried to look away.

"Hey! Hey!"

Sakura snapped open her eyes. Searching for danger, she only saw Naruto holding the stroll and beckoning her closer.

"How about we open the stroll while Sasuke's gone?"

" _What_? Naruto, we were given strict orders not to! What if we fail because of that?"

Naruto put on a sheepish smile. "Well, just think about it. Don't you think it was too easy for us to have both strolls? What kind of a ninja fights you and just looses the stroll?"

Suddenly noticing her fuming face he quickly added: "N-not that you aren't strong, S-sakura-chan! I-I just wanted to say that, er, maybe this is a t-trick like in p-part one of the chunin exams…?"

"Huh. You may be right." said Sakura, remembering how the tenth and final question was actually not a question at all. "But what if it's not a trick this time?"

"No, it's totally trickery this time!" At her disbelieving look, he tried again, this time less cheerful. "Please Sakura-chan, we're ninja remember? Ninja always use deception to their advantage!"

After a moment of hesitation, the kunoichi finally gave in. "Fine."

Naruto gave a small _woop!_ of triumph, and then started unraveling the earth stroll. Atmosphere changed from silly to tense in mere seconds. Sakura could hear her heartbeat speeding up. A bit more. Just enough…

 _WHOOSH_

A hand grabbed the stroll and Naruto's arm, stopping him from opening it.

"You shouldn't do that…" A new voice said. "Did you forget the rules?" Sakura looked up and gasped.

In front of them was Kabuto.

###

Shock was slowly leaving Sakura's body. Everything was okay. Everything was fine.

Sasuke arrived soon after Kabuto. He almost attacked him and tried to protect his teammates before realizing it was an ally who saved them. Sakura was glad and a bit flustered that he leapt to her defense so quickly. But it all disappeared when he looked at both of them with cold, angry eyes.

"Geez…What were you thinking?" Sasuke scolded.

Sakura lowered her head in shame. Even Naruto had the decency to look sorry.

"That was close." Kabuto said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"So… sorry…" Mumbled Sakura.

Kabuto turned his head to look at her. "Those that ignore the rules…" He started. "Are put into condition that forces retirement. In previous exam, within the stroll, was set up a hypnotism type jutsu. Those that saw it would be knocked out here until the end of the exam."

Sasuke furrowed his brow. "By the way, you're Kabuto, right?" Suspicion drenched his tone. "What are you doing all alone out here?"

"It's not like I'm after _your_ stroll," Kabuto smirked. Sakura shuddered. This was getting tense.

"Yeah…" Agreed Sasuke. "If you were, you could have just taken it from Naruto, just then."

A moment of silence passed between all of them. "So you're also after the heaven stroll…"

"No. I already have both." Kabuto said. He suddenly looked serious again. "Something happened and I'm on my way to the tower to meet up with my teammates."

The ash-haired genin started getting up, optimistic once again. "Well, I'm off." He grinned at them, then trudged into the direction of the forest.

"Wait!"

Sakura, who was watching him go, all of a sudden turned into the direction of the voice.

Sasuke's voice was stone hard. "Fight me."

Sakura stared, wide eyed, at the last Uchiha. She wanted to call him back, to not to do it, but something held her.

"You idiot!" Naruto fumed. "What are you even saying?!"

Kabuto glances at the raven-haired boy. "You're serious." He concluded.

"Sorry. We don't have any time left." Sasuke's tone was stone cold.

"Hey Sasuke! Kabuto-san helped us!" Naruto shouted angrily.

"Shut up!"

Sakura held Naruto back from attacking the Uchiha. She narrowed her eyes, glancing from Kabuto to Sasuke and back. Air around them was tense. The pinkette didn't like it.

"We don't have a choice. As I said before," Uchiha prepared for battle. "This is the only way for us to survive in the forest."

Another tense moment passed. Then Kabuto's face suddenly turned into a knowing smile. "You're lying," he pointed out cheerfully. Naruto looked confused. "You aren't as cold-hearted as you say.

"If this test had really turned you into that, then why would you even challenge me?" Kabuto continued. "Instead of doing that, you could have just attacked me and tried to take the stroll. That's a ninja.

"I don't dislike you for that, so I'll tell you the path you should take. But… I'll tell you as we move. The smoke from the fire, the smell of cooked fish can be sensed from far away. Wild beasts and enemies could be on the way."

###

Gaara dissolved his sand eye, feeling chakra empty from his own reserves. His head hurt, but he couldn't open the chakra reserves of the Shukaku or Kami what would have happened. He was tempted though, to check if the Team 7 was okay. Well, if _Sakura_ was okay. And maybe Naruto, he had seen how the Haruno was fond of him, even if she did hit him overtime. Not that Gaara could blame her. The Naruto kid _was_ annoying.

And who was Kabuto? Gaara believed that Kabuto could help, and double-checked on his files while watching Team 7. Multi-tasking was awesome.

Anyways, the files didn't show any disloyalties toward his village. In fact, they held information about how he even failed to kill or harm several enemies, feeling sorry for them and letting them go. Besides, he did not fight Sasuke but decided to help them. Gaara could really figure out his motives for aiding them, but on the other hand, he also couldn't see the motives for harming Team 7.

Rubbing his eyes, the sand jinjuriki trudged into the kitchen. Kankuro was there, making lunch, and Gaara didn't like being alone.

But when he walked in, the redhead noticed something strange. Kankuro looked at him in a perfectly normal way, already setting up food on the table. Even stranger, he had this weird knowing smile on his face.

Kankuro set the pie on the table, took off his apron and oven mittens, and placed the dirty dishes in the sink.

"Now," the older sibling said. "How are you feeling right now? C'mon, tell me."

"Huh?" Gaara said, confused. What was the matter with the puppet user? "I feel fine. Like always. Why?"

Kankuro grinned, glad his little bro was finally opening up to them. Just a month ago, this little devil would have broken his ribs for such question.

"It's just… You seemed weird ever after the second exam. Did anything happen?" Kankuro pried.

Gaara's ears turned a faint shade of pink. _Does he know?!_ He tried not to panic. "Um… No? Nothing really happened, just got into a little skirmish…" The redhead now had also pink dusted along his cheeks. Kankuro squealed inwardly.

"Okay then," He said. "But just so you know… It's okay to feel weird after that. Me and Temari had the same phase too, though please don't tell her I said that. You know, little skirmishes could get strange. Just don't worry. And do whatever your heart wants to do. Can't ignore it, you know?"

"…Okay?" Inside, Gaara felt relieved. His brother didn't know _._ Though on the other hand, it was kinda hard to understand if he was really talking about fighting.

"Oh, and Gaara?" Kankuro got up from the table. "Don't worry if it happened with a ninja from another village. Fights don't matter, just like love does. Just a comparison." With that, the older brother twirled out of the room, leaving Gaara to his own.

 _HE KNOWS. How does he know? Was it that clear? Does Temari know? Kankuro is really bad at hiding hints._

###

HEEEY PEOPLE. I know I've beeen inactive, don't look at me like that. I seriously forgot I had a story to work on -_-'

Anyways, here ya go! This chapter is dedicated to my favorite users on Wattpad!


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